The other day I got in bed with a million things on my mind. One new thought popped into my head suddenly that I knew I best not forget (it was really important). The problem was I was too lazy to get up and write it down somewhere in order to not forget it. So I used a favorite technique of mine called the "throw the pen" technique. This memory technique is so stupidly simply and incredibly effective that I just had to write about it. Take a pen (or any random object) and throw it on the floor. Make sure it lands somewhere in plain view in an area it shouldn't be (well, yeah, the floor). The mere fact that that random object will be lying on the floor in the morning will remind you of what you wanted to remember. It's ingenious. And dumb. But it works like a charm.
For more complex things that you need to memorize, you can think of an image associated with what you want to memorize and then "stick" it on the pen (or whatever).
Ex. - "Send in the rent check!!!"
Say I chose to throw a magazine on the floor. I would picture a check-book being stuffed inside a magazine. Or something like that. So when I wake up and I've forgotten everything, I'll see the magazine at my feet and BAM, I'll see the image in my mind of it being filled with check books. Check books = sending the rent check.
Try it. It works.
DISCLAIMER: It may not work that well if you are messy. You might throw the pen on the floor where there are already tons of things on the floor (probably many other pens). In that case, maybe "pick up the pen" would work better. Pick up the pen and put it where it's supposed to be haha.